College Basketball: Villanova extends Big 5 dominance, routs La Salle

Villanova’s Darrun Hilliard, right, drives past La Salle’s D.J. Peterson during the second half of Sunday’s game at the Pavilion. Villanova won 73-52, its 10th straight victory this season without a loss and third in the Big 5. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Every city series game should be a dogfight, decided by five points or less or, better still, at the buzzer. At least that is the popular belief.

Well, Villanova is making a mockery of that theory.

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With Sunday’s 73-52 destruction of La Salle at the Pavilion, the 10th-ranked Wildcats have won their first three city series games by a combined 74 points.

Let that sink in for a minute. Villanova has won its first three Big 5 games by an average of nearly 25 points. The Wildcats (10-0 overall, 3-0 Big 5) have beaten Penn by 23 (77-54), arch-rival Saint Joseph’s by 30 (98-68) and a La Salle team that went to the Sweet 16 last season by 21, all in a span of 11 days.

It is believed to be the largest three-game margin of victory in city series history. The round-robin record is believed to be four wins by 79 points, set by Villanova in 2005-06. That group, which went to the final eight, outscored its first three opponents by 66 points.

The Wildcats have a chance to break the record, and win the Big 5 title outright, when they visit Temple Feb. 1.

Still, it’s not supposed to work that way in the city series. Big 5 games are supposed to be close, neighborhood rivalries, for bragging rights during the pickup games the players take part in during the summer. They’re not supposed to be walkovers.

Even Villanova coach Jay Wright can’t explain it.

“You don’t expect this,” Wright said. Sometimes, our guys not being as familiar with all this history is a good thing, sometimes. Usually it bites us in the butt. I just think our guys look at La Salle as a team that went to the Sweet 16 team and is a really good team and that’s their next game, thank God.

“As much as I try to explain to them what a Big 5 game is like, the same with Saint Joe, a tough environment, it’s a really good team. I think it was last year we were lucky to beat them. The year before, we got hammered there. I’m sure James Bell tells them that. Sometimes it works to our advantage and I think that’s what’s happening right now with this group.”

Guard Darrun Hilliard can second that, at least being oblivious to Big 5 history.

“I didn’t take too much notice of the Big 5,” the 6-6 junior said. “I didn’t know what it was until I came in here as a freshman.”

Hilliard, who led all scorers with 21 points and also blocked four shots, may have a better handle on what the Big 5 is all about, but to the team as a whole, the La Salle game was just the next game on the schedule and a chance to be 10-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 team won its first 10.

Villanova equaled that mark because Wright has a team that is deep and unselfish. The Wildcats truly do not care who leads them in scoring.

Sunday was a perfect example of that. JayVaughn Pinkston and Bell are the team’s top two scorers. They had seven and three points, respectively. Hilliard picked up the slack, as did freshmen Josh Hart (13 points and five rebounds) and Kris Jenkins (11 points in 14 minutes) off the bench.

Hart and Jenkins were part of a reserve crew that outscored La Salle’s bench players, 25-19. The Wildcats also had a decided edge on the glass (35-29) and points off turnovers (18-10).

The most telling stat, though, was in the assist column. The Wildcats had 20 helpers on 25 baskets.

“We have productive depth,” Wright said. “It’s nice to have.”

Defensively, Villanova shut down Jerrell Wright in the second half, holding him to two points after he put 18 on the board on the first 20 minutes.

“They’re an infinitely better basketball team than they were eight months ago,” La Salle coach John Giannini said. “They were pretty good eight months ago. Each person on their team is just better and knowing their staff well, I know that they’ve really grinded. They’ve raved about their strength coach. They have a great staff that does great stuff with skill work. Their skills and their physical strength and quickness are at the highest level, which is why they’re undefeated and beaten Top 25 teams.”

Villanova’s depth, stamina and strength were evident as the Wildcats pulled away in the second half. Thanks to Wright, La Salle (5-5, 0-1) was within 38-34 at the break. By the first TV timeout, Villanova’s lead was up to 46-35. By the second stoppage for TV, that advantage had grown to 57-39.

The Wildcats held the Explorers to 18 points in the second half on 6-for-21 shooting from the field. Offensively, Hilliard had nine points, as did Hart.

“They’re really good, and they can all shoot,” Giannini said of the Wildcats. “When a guy like Kris Jenkins, a 6-7, 240-pound freshman, just pops in the corner and knocks it down with a hand in his face, and he’s about their eighth-best shooter ... That gives you an idea of how good they are right there. And they’re big and they’re strong and they’re quick to the ball and they’re really hungry. They’re really, really hungry.”

Don’t expect the Wildcats to get their fill of victory anytime soon.

“It’s pretty cool to be 10-0,” Hilliard said, “but we still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of room to get better. We don’t want to settle. We want to stay humble and hungry.”